South Sudan instructs NGOs to fire foreign workers, hire locals

JUBA, South Sudan, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- All NGOs and private firms operating in South Sudan must employ mostly locals in management roles, South Sudan's government announced this week.

The new order is scheduled to go into effect on October 15.

Helen Achiro Lotara, an undersecretary with Sudan's Ministry of Labor, told the BBC the objective is to ensure that 80 percent of management positions are filled by South Sudanese.

Those management positions include executive directors, personnel managers, secretaries, human relations officers, public relation officers, procurement officers, front desk officers, protocol officers and receptionists.

The restriction on foreign employees is expected to have a significant impact on aid organizations. Oxfam's South Sudan director, Tariq Riebl, expressed frustration that in the midst of ethnic violence and displacement, "We need to be expanding aid programs in South Sudan, not restricting them."

Violence broke out in South Sudan on December 15, 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his fired deputy, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. Fighting between forces loyal to the two men has continued since December, with the political dispute devolving into an ethnic conflict. Thousands have died and an estimated one million have been displaced.